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HRA Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, May 19, 2015 Page 2 1 2 8.Presentations 3 4 a.Review of Rental Registration Program – Trevor Johnson 5 Acting HRA Director Bilotta introduced University of Northwestern Intern Trevor Johnson, 6 noting Executive Director Kelsey’s arrangement with the University for Mr. Johnson’s 7 services at no cost to the HRA for this study. Mr. Bilotta clarified that the intent of this 8 presentation was simply to provide an overview, with details to be submitted to the HRA at a 9 future date for their formal approval. 10 11 A copy of Mr. Johnson’s presentation is included with these meeting minutes for the record, 12 attached hereto and made a part hereof. 13 14 Mr. Johnson presented his overview in the form of an Executive Summary of this study, noting 15 that the purpose of his internship was to review Roseville City Code, Chapter 907 originally 16 enacted in 2008, and as a follow-up to that initial rental registration program. Mr. Johnson 17 noted his intent had been to assess the effectiveness of the program, compare it to how other 18 cities handled their residential rental programs, and recommend any indicated changes. 19 20 As part of the program’s goal to improve the level of health and safety standards for rental 21 properties, Mr. Johnson recommended that the City continue to rely on education rather than 22 enforcement by making more information available to both property owners and tenants 23 regarding code requirements and tenant rights. For the HRA’s consideration, Mr. Johnson 24 provided several samples, including a mailer to registered property owners and a revised 2015- 25 16 Certificate of Rental Registration to post at buildings. Mr. Johnson opined that these would 26 serve to enhance those educational efforts, identify most important and common violations, 27 educate landlords about their obligations, and educate tenants about their rights and 28 responsibilities. Mr. Johnson suggested that this would continue the efforts to be proactive and 29 preventative, while addressing those most common safety and nuisance issues before they 30 became full-blown problems. 31 32 Mr. Johnson also suggested that the City continue to collect information about residential 33 rental properties to facilitate contact with owners or responsible parties in case of problems. 34 Mr. Johnson suggested expanding that information gathering to include all non-owner- 35 occupied properties, not just those being rented. Mr. Johnson noted this would require 36 completion of an application with contact information and status of the property, whether 37 vacant, operated as a state licensed group home, or occupied by relatives or rented. 38 39 Depending on the nature of the property, Mr. Johnson suggested fees could be waived as 40 applicable, but that the registration application still be a required submission to the City to 41 gather information. Mr. Johnson noted that this would allow the City to meet its goals to track 42 transient housing and the number of rentals in Roseville, while respecting the statutory 43 exemptions for group homes licensed by and with the state and for rentals to relatives of 44 owners. Mr. Johnson recommended changes to the code so these properties are not exempted 45 from registration, but only exempt from a fee; and also that those sites still be posted with the 46 revised Certificate for the benefit of those property managers and their tenants. Mr. Johnson 47 opined that this would keep the demands on those properties reasonable, but still provide 48 sufficient information to the City on the use of those properties. 49 50 Discussion among Mr. Johnson, staff and the Board included the number of total rental 51 registrations in the community (over 700); 77 properties claiming relative rental or group home 52 exemptions; tracking of data through Ramsey County’s and other agency databases; maps 53 created by staff to show rental lots and provided to block captains and neighborhood 54 associations for their information and updates as applicable; and educational pieces provided